At the start of every new year, my wife and I face the annual goal of cleaning up our home (or as my wife says, “de-junking”). This is a common chore for most couples, and I suspect more than a few grumbles and disagreements occur over what should be kept and what should be thrown in the trash, recycled, or handed off to Deseret Industries.

Men are more into “keeping” than “tossing”. This probably goes back to the concept of the garage as a holy shrine for things of little value (crusted cans of paint, ripped basketball nets, tools dating back to the Iron Age, etc.). While there is no historical footnote, I believe the “junk drawer” was founded by men.

My wife is especially aggressive when it comes to cleaning out the clothing closet. I view a shirt that hasn’t been worn in the past six months as a worthy remnant of past experience; she views it as a rag. At the beginning of this year, she informed me that I was to throw away two pairs of shoes. When I said they were like faithful, trusted companions, she pointed out they both were horribly scuffed and had holes in the soles.

I am not a hoarder by nature. However, I like to squeeze every ounce of use out of an item before bidding farewell. (Teens understand this too; otherwise, why would they pay good money to purchase new jeans with holes in them?)

My wife always wins the cleaning argument. If our house could be put on a scale, it would weigh 150 pounds less today than it did yesterday Р and that includes at least 10 pounds of metal keys for which I have no idea what they open.